A Jewel's Worth[on hold]

CHAPTER 4 - THE EMERALD WITCH

I've never been more exhausted in my life, not even as a slave had I ever felt this bruised and broken with pain. I knew I lay on plush furniture, but I feared of whose bed this belonged to, knowing I'm staining it with my dirt-caked garments and bloodied body. If this were my Master's household, he'd had me whipped, starved for days, and locked up in the crate inside the cellar— with rats eating out of the molded wood. Not even Glacia could get me out of this mess.

I closed my eyes and tried to listen for any sign of a person around the room until I remembered, no one but the forestry and myself was present last night. I tried to rest that night in the forestry, while wrapped in leaves and warmed myself by the small fire I made with twigs until I heard the sound of a yowled growl. It appeared to be fueled by hunger and anger. I recalled, that beast attacked me, and mangled my already torn garments with my blood.

The last thing I saw were red curled up strands in my silted vision while I lay breathing heavily on the dirt. As I gazed at the stranger's feet— somehow they stopped the beast from devouring me whole. Then they took notice of me and kneeled onto the bloodied leaves around me. It was a woman wrapped in a shimmering green cloth, rustled by the sheer force of a howling wind. Her garments stained by my blood didn't seem to have bothered her like my Mistress and her daughter. The stranger and I had gazed into each other's vision, while surrounded by the glowing fireflies, that shimmered the night.

She had combed her fingers through the knots of my sweated, dirt-filled, and bloodied hair. Her voice had been a kind and clear sound like rain. Who was she? Why did she help me?

I suddenly recalled my task, to deliver the letter to the maidens of the green forestry, and I stirred to look inside my knapsack. Then out of a stupor I realized, perhaps, she's one of the maidens. I fisted my hands and bit into my chapped and split lip. A shocked lightness loosened my tense shoulders, and my eyes trembled with relief. If I give her the letter, could I finally go back and claim my freedom?

I'd forgotten my battered and scarred body, and it wasn't until I groaned and hissed in pain, that I remembered, I'm injured. My thigh pulsed like boiling water, no thanks to the beast from last night. I had barely made it out alive. The myths were true. Huge beasts with claws the size of sickles, sharp jaws, and limbs as huge as a tree's trunk existed and roamed, the green forestry like rats and stray cats in the slums. It looked to be the size of a bear but with distinctive characteristics of a wolf or a lion.

To think I tried to fight against a monster like that with a branch on fire. What kind of idiot does that? Oh, right, me! I breathed hard and knew from the cold shakes— I had a fever.

"I see you're finally awake, young, human, man." I blinked as stiff as a plank. The woman who saved me last night appeared out of nowhere. My mind muddled in thought; obviously, I'm all three. Wasn't she a young, human, woman? If you looked, talked, and walked like a dog, surely you're one.

"I see I rendered you silent. Forgive me for I haven't had many or any guests in a very long time," she spoke in a solemn and yet delighted tone. As she looked into my eyes, I couldn't help but notice her seeming interested or rather glad to see me.

"Sorry, dear maiden. I'm not used to—" I wisely stopped— she might be setting a trap to torture me later. I don't know what this lady's agenda might take me. After all, the beast did seem complacent towards her. Who knows when she might release the beast onto me and watch it tear me to shreds.

"Kindness." she interrupted my word of thought.

"What?" I blinked in confusion.

"You're not used to kindness." she cupped my cheek and let out the first-ever caring smile I'd seen in my life. My hairs stood on end from the unfamiliar feeling of abnormality, yet strange sensation it was to receive such tenderness from someone, let alone a stranger.

"You've suffered greatly, haven't you, Stack. The things you've seen, been done to, and lived through had left you in an endless dark." I placed my scabbed, thin as a twig palm on my cupped cheek.

And with a hard and tiring breath, I spoke my truth, "Yes. Dear Maiden of the Green Forestry, please take the letter, so I will too be as free." I requested to her my final task as a slave. The glistening pools, poured as free as my desire.

However, her face twisted to that of anger. She held out her other palm with the letter and said, "Open it, Stack. See the truth." my brows furrowed in confusion.

Wasn't she supposed to receive this letter together with the other maidens? Why'd bother to give it to me?

I pushed the letter back and coldly, answered, "Dear Maiden of the Green Forestry, I think you've misunderstood what I meant. I'm here to deliver a letter to you and the other maidens. I'm but a slave, left with one last task by my Master's wishes." I insisted she take back the letter and opened it with no prying eyes like myself. It's not my business to know what's in it. The words of my Mistress echoed into my mind, don't ask. Obey.

I heard her sigh, and unexpectedly she took my other hand and placed the letter on it. She then cupped both my cheeks between her palms and firmly ordered me to open it. "But—" she silenced me and waited until I'd open the letter.

I'd never been in this kind of position before, but reluctantly I opened the ivory parchment with a waxed seal. The parchment folded out into three sides, and I slowly came to realize, something in the letter that was amiss.

"It's blank," I looked up the Maiden, and my voice trembled in disbelief "W-why is it b-blank? M-Master, w-why have y-you d-deceived me?"

(Word Count-1,075)